War of attrition

Filipinos, still preoccupied with the continuing story of the late Rico Yan and his ex Claudine Barretto, may not be interested in what’s happening in the Middle East. But that region is host to millions of Filipino workers, with 50,000 in Israel alone. That should be enough reason for us to be gravely concerned about the war of attrition between the Israelis and Palestinians, or more accurately, between old foes Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat. Those two guys look like boxers who’ve beaten each other to a pulp in a fight that’s bound to end up in a draw.

There are people who find it hard to take sides in this conflict. My Israeli friend, a civilian who for the past months has been trying to leave what he describes as the "madhouse" that is his country, told me he has never been a Sharon fan. But he said the Israeli prime minister was left with little choice after Palestinian suicide bombings left scores of civilians dead within Israel. "No government could live with that kind of slaughter," my friend wrote.

When I asked him how he was faring amid the violence, he wrote that a couple of weeks ago his daughter’s 17-year-old classmate was shot in the back a mile from his house by a Palestinian. Also, his favorite seafood place was shot up recently during a dance party, leaving three people dead.

"It’s pretty bad," he e-mailed me. "But as I keep telling my despondent friends, it still beats, by a mile, waiting in line for the showers in Auschwitz."

He still believes that they’ll manage to pull away from the abyss. But right now, the severely outgunned Palestinians have finally succeeded in striking fear into the hearts of the Israelis.

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The Muslims aren’t rejoicing either. They think Israel’s staunchest ally, the United States, isn’t condemning loudly enough the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Muslim resentment of US policy in the Middle East runs deep. They still chafe, for example, over former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s reported comment, when asked about 500,000 children who died as a result of the US-led embargo on Iraq, that the deaths were a "justifiable expense."

Some Muslims want Sharon haled before an international tribunal for crimes against humanity, for the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians over the past decades. There’s a letter going around on the Net, soliciting signatures for this petition.

In my belated effort to understand Islam, I once asked a moderate imam if the situation between the Israelis and Palestinians justified a holy war or jihad. The reply was a quick yes. The Koran allowed jihad in the name of land, the imam said, and the Palestinians are just claiming what is rightfully theirs. The "Promised Land" of the Jews, he pointed out, is Palestine.

I told him what a Jewish-American friend had told me, that you can’t possibly push the Jews out of Israel and into the sea. The imam’s reply: "At least let us get half of our country back."

That was a moderate Muslim speaking – one who considers Osama bin Laden an enemy of Islam. What do the hundreds of millions of people in the Arab world think?

The imam did qualify that jihad "doesn’t mean they have to go to another country and bomb somebody." And he did say that Islam prohibits suicide. "It’s forbidden, hundred percent. It’s not allowed." In another breath, however, he also said it’s okay to kill in self-defense, although "if you forgive, it’s closer to piety."

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Whatever their interpretation of Islam, the suicidal Palestinians have turned themselves into the most lethal of all weapons. Some measures have been proposed to stop the bloodshed, including sending international observers to oversee a resumption of the peace process. 

But nothing is simple in that part of the world. Both sides know the killings must stop, but now they’re bickering over the timing: should the Israelis withdraw from the West Bank first before the suicide bombings stop, or should it be the other way around? Which comes first: a ceasefire or a troop withdrawal?

So far Arafat is winning this one. The violence has exacted a grievous toll on his people, but it has firmed up international support for a Palestinian state. Even when such a state is created, it won’t necessarily mean an end to Arab hostility toward Israel. I’m sure those points have not been lost on the Israelis, some of whom believe the Arabs’ ultimate goal is to drive all Jews out of the Middle East. Whatever deal is hammered out between the two sides, peace in that region is going to be shaky for decades to come.